Roofing material and the like



Jurie 23, 1936. N.l P. HARSHBERGER ET Al. 2,044,788

ROOFING MATERIAL AND THE LIKE Fikled June l2, 1933 ATTORN EY Patented June 23, 1936 v ROOFING MATERIAL AND THE LIKE Norman P. Harshberger, ,Scarsdale, and Sidney A. Ochs, New York, N. Y., assignors to Bakelite Building Products Co. Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationJune 12, 1933, Serial No. 675,454

15 Claims.

This invention relates to material having spring bow characteristics and particularly to cement coated strips and roll roofing of such character, and processes of making, ornamentation and curing same in rolls ready to lay.

The usual roll roofing has taken the form of a base or web of wool felt, paper or other porous or fibrous material impregnated with a Waterproofing` compound or material such as a low melting point asphalt and having an additional coating of a bituminous material applied thereto. Mineral particles as for instance, crushed slate, mica, etc. are applied over the bituminous layer to give the material a, more weather resistant surface and to prevent sticking of the coating to the back of the sheet when rolled.` 'Ihe thickness of this material has been such that the finished article has sufiicient'pliability to be rolled but the material has been subject to Wrinkling and tearing when laid-on the roof, especially during warm periods when it becomes very limp and rag-like. Unless fastened at both edges with the fasteners applied close together it is easy for this material to lift in the Wind and permit rain or hail to reach the under surface of the roof. Also it has been a common occurrence for nails and caps to cut through the sheet when applied. In some cases paint has been applied over the mineral surface to form designs or to give colors not possible with natural or dyed minerals, but this additional coating has contributed nothing that would improve the product from a weather resistant standpoint. nor has it been of a durable nature.

In addition to the above, after laying a roof with the material of the character described, a thick layer of concrete has been applied over the roof to form a monolithic structure. Such a roof has never been satisfactory. Some of the resultant `deficiencies have been cracking due to expansion and contraction, efliorescence due to the presence of free lime, breaking oi of pieces of the concrete due to poor contact with the base structure or due to the forces caused by the expansion of water in the cracks of the cement coating in freezing to ice.

So far as we are aware no cementitious material of the type herein contemplated `has been applied as a slurry on base roofing materials during manufacture and supplied in the form of rolls.

It is therefore the general object of this invention to provide roll roofing of the character described with a surfacing properly anchored to its .base that will 4wear uniformly over its entire sur- More specifically the objects of our invention may be enumerated as the provision of Roll roofing having a flexible base and a hardened cement coating;

Roll roofing material having a wholly exible base and a rigidifying coating but in which the resulting material retains pliable characteristics;

Roll roofing that will possess a textured surface and will be of pleasing character;

Roll roofing in which the coating employed as a surfacing will be anchored to the base by means possessing irregular craggy formations and pitlikc crevices and in which a chemical reaction is obtained between the coating and said means to form a solid mass;

A process and method of making and curing prepared roofing with a hardened cement coating so that it may be marketed in rolls ready to lay;

A process of ornamenting roll roofing with a cement coating by prewetting predetermined areas of the base material and thereafter applying a dry pulverulent cement to the wetted areas to form permanent designs;

A process of making roll roofing comprising coating a web of material with a hydraulic cement, winding the web into rolls before the coating has fully set and permitting the coating to harden and cure in the roll;

Roll roofing strips which retain a slightly curved surface formation due to the hardening of its surface coating of cement while rolled and which coating is stressed in laying over fiat surfaces by the attendant compression of the coating in flattening the strips;

Roofing strips having straight or serrated exposed edges which edges will hug the roof deck when laid due to the attendant compression of a set coating on the strips in application.

These and other objectsand features of the invention, relating to the improved roofing material and all its parts and combinations will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out in the subsequent detailed description and in the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. l shows a perspective view of the roll roofing showing its construction and with the web rolled Vwith the coating on the outside of the layers;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing a form of ornamentation made possible by the use of applicants process;

Fig. 2` is a view of the tapered core;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross section of apormaterial illustrating its greater pliability when its surface coating is iiexed under tension than under compression;

Fig. 8 shows a portion of a roof laid with applicants material having a serrated edge, indicating the nailing.

In carrying out our invention we use a flexiblecomposition base 2; This may be the usual felted material made from vegetable fibres, wool, asbestos or hair, alone, in combination, or with other materials and provided in the form of a continunus sheet or web which may in the following operations be at any time moving or stationary. The base is saturated with a waterproofing substance, for instance, a low melting point asphalt, and thereafter coated in the usual way with an additional adhesive coating 4, as, for instance, a high melting point bituminous material or one of a resinous type. To this coating before it has set, is applied and partially embedded a suitable material 6 to form a. roughened surface. This may be a coating of mineral particles, for instance, crushed brick, gravel, crushed slag, pebbles, crushed slate, coke, crushed glass or granulated petrified materials. It is desirable in order to aid in the prevention of blistering in the finished article after it has been applied on a roof to have the felt thoroughly dry before saturating and to have any moisture removed from the mineral particles before they are applied to the bituminous coating.

The mineral particles we have found desirable for use in this invention in order to present a surface structurally adapted for the application of the cement coating, are those of a high porosity, possessive of considerable inherent physical strength, and particularly those of a type whose chemical composition makes them capable of combining with the cementitious substance to form a unified mass, as for instance, mineral particles formed from certain mineral slags.

The slags which we use have a composition similar to cement and react with water in a similar manner to cement, that is, the alumina and silica, minerals of the slag react with Water to form hydrated aluminates and silicates. Further, when the cement coating is applied, this type of slag reacts more vigorously with water in the presence of the free lime which may be liberated from the cement,than it will with other materials. We prefer to use slags having ingredients, aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, and iron oxide of less than sixty per cent (better less than fifty per cent) by Weight of their composition and preferably between thirty and seventy per cent in their calcium oxide and magnesium oxide content and/or slags having an aluminum oxide to silicon oxide ratio of no less than one third by weight.

'I'he mineral particles because of their toothlike-projections of irregular contour and their irregular cavities obtain an excellent grip on the base when they are applied to the adhesive layer and in turn hold the cement coating 8 firmly in place. In both instances the cement and adhesive materials are of a character that Will enter the pores of the mineral particles.

'I'he cementitious material we use may be any plasters, limes or magnesia, or it may be a hydraulic cement, for instance, high alumina cements or ciments fondu,V as Lumnite, ordinary Portland cements as Lehigh and Medusa, high early strength Portland cements as Incor, magnesium cements as magnesium oxychloride, white cements as White Portland, Medusa or Ferrocrete or slag cements. Further, special cements as Keen cementsor ore cement (Erz Zement) may also be used. It is preferred however to use a hydraulic cement.

Such material may be applied forcibly or other- Wise over the mineral coated web as a coating in any suitable manner, as for instance, by spraying, by calendar rolls, by printing rolls or dipping. The coating may be a natural colored cement, colored cement, a cement mixed with colored pigments or it may be any of these mixed as an aggregate with other materials, for instance, clay, diatomaceous earth, hair, asbestos fibres or marble dust. Also, it may be desired to use a waterproof cement or a cement with a resinous addition, for instance, a resinous varnish or emulsion in the proper portions to waterproof it.

The web or sheet with.its cementitious coating thereon is, preferably before the coating has taken its initial set, formed into rolls l0 with the coating 8 preferably on the outer side of each convolution of the roll, for hardening and curing.

In order to prevent sticking of the coating to the back of the web when rolled, a waxy addition may be included in the original saturant or a Waxy material in an emulsied state or otherwise may be applied to the back of the web at some point in the process. This step may be obviated by the addition to the cement coating of, for instance, a synthetic resin as oakelite or a resin as vinylite that will rise to the surface of the cement coating before it has set or the mineral particles employed may project above the coating and/or additional particles such as mica or talc may be applied to the front or back of the web. A further preventive contemplates including in the web as it is rolled up a iiexible separator having a waxy or other non-adherent surface.

In the process above described we have found it desirable in some instances to treat the surface of the coatingl with carbon dioxide in a gaseous state or in solution or to add a material generating carbon dioxide to the coating material to prevent eiliorescence taking place in the coating after it has set. The material may, however, be treated after it has been formed into sheets or rolls in a suitable carbon dioxide chamber.

It is to be understood that the cement coating may be applied continuously as a step in the continuous manufacture of the roofing web or may be applied to the sheets or rolls of roong material at any time after the latter have been fabricated. In the latter instance if rolled roofing is employed the web is unrolled, the coating applied and thereafter the process already described continued.

The mineral coated base material with the cement coating thus applied and formed into rolls will, when the coating has fully set and hardened, produce a material having a greater resistance to flexure when the forces applied to bend it are in the direction of the arrow l2 Eig. '7, than when in the direction indicated by the arrow I4. Also due to the coating being on the outer side of the convolutlons of the roll and in an unhardened condition when wound, when the roll is unwound on the r it will, in contrast to the ordinary asphalt roll roofing sheet, have a permanent curve with the coating at the outer side of the curve. The amount of curvature retained in the sheet when the roll is unwound will be dependent upon the diameter of the roll and will also be somewhat affected by the thickness of the cement coating. It is preferred to use a combination that will not produce too much curvature. When the sheets of roll material are laid on the roof the fasteners will, in flattening out the sheet, put the cement coating under compression. The stressing of the coating will create forces tending to make the sheet and its edges hug the roof deck more securely, thus avoiding rain leakage and further, the cement coating will resist any Wrinkling of the sheet and curling at the edges due to the action of the weather, as would happen with the ordinary roll roofing. While a'flat cement coated member would have extremely high resistance to curling at its edges, the resistance in this instance would be increased by the amount of the stressing of the coating.

If desired, when the rolls are wound a separate suitable form or core l may be provided and said core may be perfectly cylindrical in shape, and/or it may have a slight curved surface with the greatest diameter at the center and/or it may have any shape desired so as to transmit its effect to the sheet when the cement coating has set and hardened and/or the machine spindle upon which the web is wound may have such shapes and be provided with proper means for removing the wound roll therefrom. By such methods rolls of roofing may be made in which the unwound web will have a curve extending as in Fig. 1 in the direction of the length of the web or asin Fig. 2

fEach section so cut will have one or more curves depending upon the form of the material.

As shown in Fig. 2 it is also contemplated in the process herein described, where the cement coating has been applied, to preornament the web y in any fashion desired and also by proper control in curing and proper'use of the materials to obtain a large number of varied effects on the nished web. In Fig. 2 the web has been coated with contrasting mixtures to produce a wavy design running longitudinally of the sheet. A particular method of forming designs on the web comprises wetting the mineral particles in certain portions of the roofing web before applying the cement coating and thereafter applying a dry coating material to the web. By wetting the mineral particles in desired areas numerous textured and design effects will result after the step of applying-the cement coating by dusting the latter onto the wetted portions of the heet The surplus pulverized cement may be removed from the relatively dry regions 'after the dusting operation by suitable means, for instance, an air blast. By applyingthe water in the proper manner so as to obtain an -irregular ilow between the mineral particles, ragged figures may be obtained when the cement has been applied. When it is desired to definitely control the outline of said figures a non-absorbent material, for instance, a waxy substance, an asphalt or resin may be applied to the areas to be free of the cement coating. Further, the areas to be coated may be wetted by means of a printing roll in the form of a wet pad having the desired design.

Fig. 3 shows a cross section of the coated material in the preferred form in which a thin cenient coating is over the mineral coated web, and partially fills the interstices between the mineral particles, and in which the texture of the mineral surfacing is preserved. Such a web makes an attractive roof and is easily handled and laid by the roofer.

Fig. 4 shows a cross section where the coating is wholly above the particles. Such a coated web may if desired be passed between suitable rollers before winding into rolls to produce depressions inthe coating to form designs, or it may, as in Fig. 6, have an additional layer of mineral particles I8 contrasting in color with the cement surfacing, embedded in desired areas for further ornamentation and to prevent sticking in the roll when the web is wound.

In Fig. 5 a cross section of the web is shown in which the mineral coated web is covered by the cement coating and in which the thickness of the coating gradually decreases to disclose more and more of the texture of the mineral particles. This coating may readily be applied by spraying or by rolling between non-parallel rollers.

Fig. 8 illustrates one of the advantages of our coated material. The figure shows a section of a roofing surface laid with roofing having a diamond point serrated edge. With the ordinary roll roofing and serrated strip material it would be necessary for the roofer to fasten thesheet down not only as shown in the gure but also along the straight or tabbed lower edge to prevent lifting of that edge in the wind. The application of nails at the latter point is undesirable as leaks can easily occur. With our roll roong or strip material, because of the type of coating provided which permits large exposures to be made without fastening and the compression set up in the coating by the fasteners flattening out the sheet in laying, it is only necessary to apply nails in positions Where they will he fully covered by the next overlying sheet. Also the weight of the next overlying strip will aid the nails on the under sheet in keeping the coating in compression.

In Fig. 1 the web has been shown with a narrow edge band 20 from which the coating has been omitted. 'I'he mineral surfacing indicated may be iiner than that used as a bond for the cement coating. Such a band makes a suitable lap joint on the roof and further is desirable especially on uflat roofs where it may bedesired to seal the joint with an additional adhesive.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that we have produced a roon'g material that is simple to manufacture, that is easy to apply to a building surface and that will produce a much better roof than has been provided by the materials of the prior art. The term roofing and similar expressions as used throughout the specication and claims are employed in a generic sense and are also intended to cover such applications as for walls, siding and the like. The details that have been given are for the purpose of illustration, not restriction. It will be obvious that various modifications may be made in the material selected and structures formed, as well as in the ornamentation, form of rolling and in the process without departing from the spirit of our invention which we desire to construe as broadly as the following claims taken in conjunction with the prior art, may allow.

We claim:

` 1. Roll roong material comprising a. pliable base and a hardened cement coating, said base being bowed when unrolled and having the coating on the outer face of the bow, the base characterized by a tendency to assume a shape other than the bowed shape and the hardened cement coating retaining the base in the bowed shape.

2. Roll roofing material comprising a. pliable base and a hardened cement coating, said material being bowed and having the coating on the outer face, the base characterized by a tendency to assume a shape other than the bowed shape and the hardened cement coating resisting a flattening of the bow.

3. Roll roofing material comprising a exible base and a hardened hydraulic cement coating,

.said base having when unrolled longitudinal and transversebowed sections to be flattened in assembly` to form a pressure weather seal at the edges thereof.

4. A roll of roofing material comprising a core having a bowed transverse surface section and a wound web of flexible material having a hardened cementitious coating on said core.

5. In a roofing surface, courses of roofing strips secured to said surface and having pressure contact with the roofing surface along their exposed edges. said strips normally having longitudinal and transverse bow-like sections and having a coating on the outer side of said sections maintaining said normal condition, and said pressure contact being transmitted to said edges through said coating in flattening and securing said strips to the surface.

6. In a roof, courses of vroll roofing strips having a. bow section and a hardened hydraulic cement coating bonded thereto on the outer side of said bow, and said strip being fastened to the roof by means operating to flatten the bow and to thereby transmit pressure to the edge portions to form a substantial weather seal.

'7. A roofing strip comprising a flexible body including cement and fibre, said strip having a plurality of tabs separated by intervening recesses in a longitudinal edge of the body, the transverse section of the strip through the tab portion having a normal bow shape and having the ability to assume a flattened bow shape, said strip having a cementitious portion at the outer side of the bow of sufficient strength normally to maintain the bow shape, and of sufficient thickness to direct a pressure to the lower fweather edges of the tabs when laid upon a surface and secured thereto with a flattening of said bow shape.

8.A roof strip comprising a flexible body including a -hardened cementitious facing, said strip having a tab deiining edge in the direction of its length, the transversesection of the strip through the tab portion being bowed, and the cementitious facing normally maintaining the bow shape, said strip characterized by the ability to assume a flattened bow shape when laid upon a surface and secured thereto.

9. Surface covering material comprising a fibre-cement sheet consruction having a normal bow shape, and having the ability of assuming a flattened bow-shape, said material having a cementitious portion including a granular omamental facing secured thereto at the outer portion of the bow, of sufficient strength to normally maintain the bow shape and of suflicient thickness to transmit a pressure to the surface contacting edges of the material when laid upon a surface and secured thereto with a flattening of the bow shape.

10. Roll roofing material comprising a fibrous base, a facing of water impervious material having granular particles anchored therein and a coating over said granular particles of substantial compressive strength, said base being bowed when unrolled and having the coating on the outer face of the bow, the base characterized by a tendency to assume a shape other than the bowed shape and the coating on the outer face of the bow normally retaining the base in the bowed shape.

1l. Roll roong material comprising a granular surfaced water impervious fibrous base and a .hardened cement coating, said material being posed edges, said strips comprising a pliable base 2 and a hardened cement coating, the base being bowed and having the coating on the outer face of the bow, and said pressure contact being transmitted to said edges through said coating in securing said strips to the surface with a flattening of the bow shape.

13. A surface covering strip comprising a flexible base having a low bow shape, and a layer of set coating material on the outer side of the bow secured to said base, the base characterized by a tendency to assume a shape other than the bow shape and the coating layer characterized by suiiicient body and strength to normally retain the base in the bow shape, said coating adapted to provide spring properties to the strip when stressed in assembly by means operating to flatten the bow whereby a pressure may be transmitted operating to substantially flatten the bow whereby to stressthe coating layer andy thereby transmit' pressure to the lap portions to form a substantial weather seal.

l5. A Weather covering strip comprising a flexible body including a rigidifying face coating layer and a tab defining edge portion in the direction of its length; the transverse section of the strip through the tab portions having a bow shape and said coating layer being on the outer side of the bow and normally maintaining the bow shape yet providing the tabs with spring properties when stressed in assembly by means operating to atten the bow, whereby a pressure may be transmitted to the bow edge portions of the tabs to provide substantially a weather seal.

NORMAN P. HARSHBERGER. SIDNEY' A. OCHS. 

